10% azelaic acid with four centella actives underneath. 30 ml, between toner and moisturizer.
Made in small batches because azelaic oxidises. Batch 3 is the last of this run.
Week four, I got to the car before I realized I had walked out with nothing on my face. I had not decided to do it - I just had not thought about it, and I have thought about it every single morning for nine years. Two acids and a retinol before this one and every one of them made me redder. This did not sting on the first night, which was the first surprise, and the color going was the second.
Three weeks in she asked what I was using, which has never happened to me about my skin. Around the nose is where it went first and it has stayed gone. I did get a few small spots around day ten, in the exact places I always break out, and they went in five days - if I had not read here that it can happen I would have thrown the bottle away in week two. I am most of the way through the second one.
The color correcting, the primer over that, the powder to stop it moving - all of that was there to hide something that is mostly not there now. Two drops at night, moisturizer over the top, sunscreen in the morning, and that is the whole routine. It does not pill or leave my face tight the way every other active I have tried did, as long as you give it a minute before the next thing.
One or two drops, once or twice a week to begin with. Not nightly, and not twice a day.
Build up over about a month until you are on it most nights, and go up to four or five drops only when your skin is comfortable at two. It goes between toner and moisturizer, and it wants a minute to dry before the next layer. Sunscreen in the daytime, every day.
Almost every bad experience with azelaic is someone going straight to twice daily in week one.
The difference is where and how big.
Adjustment: small spots, in the places you already break out, in the first two or three weeks, gone within about a week each. Your skin is turning over faster than usual. Keep going, and do not increase the dose while it happens.
A reaction: deep or painful spots, spots somewhere you never get them, or itching, burning or a rash. Stop, and speak to a doctor if it does not settle within a few days.
Nobody in this aisle tells you this, which is why so many people throw a working product away in week two.
A brief warmth on application that fades within a minute or two is common and normal, particularly in the first fortnight.
Sustained burning, itching, or a rash is not. Stop using it. Patch test on a small area behind the ear or on the inner arm before the first full application - that is worth doing with any new active, and especially with skin that has reacted before.
Only if you rush it or use too much.
Two drops is enough for a whole face. Give it sixty seconds to dry before the next layer, and do not put a heavy occlusive cream straight on top of a wet serum. If you use it alongside a retinol, alternate nights rather than stacking them.
The full list, in order:
Water, Azelaic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Hydroxide, Dipropylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Panthenol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Betaine Salicylate, Glycerin, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Ethylhexylglycerin, Allantoin, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Water, Sodium Hyaluronate, Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract, Niacinamide, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Beta-Glucan, Centella Asiatica Extract, Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract, Centella Asiatica Root Extract, Madecassoside, Asiaticoside, Asiatic Acid, Madecassic Acid, Squalane, Zinc PCA, Butylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Ceramide NP.
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60 days, opened bottles included. Give it four weeks before you decide - the thing this is for does not change in a fortnight.
It is the cheeks and the sides of the nose. It shows up in cold air, in a hot room, after a glass of wine, and in every photograph taken with a flash. You have got good at foundation.
You have also got good at reading ingredient lists, because three separate actives have burned you and you would rather not do that again.
Most actives work by taking a layer off - that is what the tingle is. On skin that is already inflamed, that makes the color worse before it makes it better, which is why the things aimed at spots so often leave you redder.
Azelaic is the one that does not do that.
4.8 out of 5 · 9,400 reviews
Azelaic acid is second on the ingredient list, which is where you want it. What makes this one gentler than the strength suggests is everything underneath: madecassoside, asiaticoside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid - the four active fractions of centella - plus panthenol, allantoin, licorice root and aloe. Then niacinamide for tone, zinc PCA for oil, and squalane and ceramide NP holding the barrier together while the azelaic works. The active does the job; the rest of the formula is there so your skin will tolerate it.
Redness settles before anything else, usually somewhere in the fourth week, and it is almost always the first thing anyone notices. Texture follows at about eight. The marks left behind by old spots are the slowest - twelve to sixteen weeks - which is the honest reason people order a second bottle rather than a clever one. If you are judging this at week two you are judging it on the wrong thing.
Start at one or two drops, once or twice a week, and build to nightly across a month. That instruction is on the back of every azelaic bottle and almost nobody follows it, which is where the bad experiences come from. Give it a minute to dry before your moisturizer and it will not pill. Sunscreen in the daytime, without exception - everything that calms redness makes you easier to burn.
The flush across the cheeks and the sides of the nose is the fastest part of this to change - most people are describing it somewhere around the fourth week. Look at the cheekbones in both halves: the fine broken capillaries are still there on the right. Azelaic does not touch those, and anything that tells you otherwise is selling you a laser.
The brown marks old spots leave behind run into the third and fourth month, well after the redness has settled. They are still on the jaw in the second photograph on purpose - that is the honest order these two things happen in, and knowing it in advance is what stops people quitting in week three.
Inflammation on deep brown skin shows up as dusky, warmer patches rather than pink, and what tends to bother people most is the darker mark it leaves afterwards. The patches settle on the same sort of timeline. The post-inflammatory marks, again, are the slow half.
How much changes, and how fast, is different for everyone.
Two drops at night, built up slowly.
4.8 average from 9,400 people
Nine years of covering my cheeks before I could leave the house. Week four I got to the car before I realized I had not put anything on.
Hana R.
I used to buy green color-correcting primer two at a time, just to cancel out the red. I have not opened one since March.
Cerys D.
My sister asked what I had had done to my face. I had changed one thing in my routine, and it was this.
Amara K.
Eleven brown marks along my chin in March, left over from old spots. In July I could not find them to count.
Priya M.
For most people the flush across the cheeks and around the nose settles somewhere in the fourth week, and that is usually the first change anyone notices. It is management rather than a cure - the color returns if you stop.
One or two drops, once or twice a week, building to nightly over about a month. Not twice daily in week one. That single instruction prevents most of the trouble people have with azelaic.
Probably not, but check where. Small spots in the places you normally break out, in the first two or three weeks, settling within a week each - that is your skin turning over faster and it passes. Deep or painful spots, spots somewhere you never get them, or itching and rash - stop, and see a doctor if it does not settle.
Yes, but not stacked on the same night while you are still building up. Alternate nights. Once your skin is comfortable with azelaic nightly, most people layer it fine - give each one a minute to dry.
Patch test first, which is worth doing with any active. If it does not suit you, email us within 60 days and we refund it, opened bottle included. We would rather have it back than have you push through something that is not working.
Walked out with nothing on my face and did not notice until I was driving. Nine years of being the red one, two acids and a retinol that all made it worse, and by week four I had simply stopped thinking about it. I have not worn foundation to work since June.
My cheeks went from the thing I planned my morning around to something I do not think about, and that took about two months. On skin that has reacted to everything I have ever put on it, there was no sting, not even on night one.
Three weeks, and it has stayed down since. I did get a few small spots around day ten in the places I always break out - gone inside a week - and because this page told me that could happen I carried on instead of binning it. Very glad I did.
Second bottle, and it does what it says on the redness. It absolutely will pill if you put moisturizer straight on top though. Sixty seconds and it is fine. Docking one star because I learned that the messy way.
There were eleven across my chin in March and I could not find them to count in July. That took into the fourth month and a second bottle, which this page was straight with me about. The redness going in the meantime I had not come for.
For external use only. Patch test on a small area before first use. Discontinue if irritation, itching or a rash occurs. Avoid the eye area. Use sunscreen during the day. If you are pregnant, nursing or under a doctor's care, ask your own doctor before starting. Keep out of reach of children.
Azelaic Acid 10% Serum
